Holy cow, Flyleft! That's amazing! Both the level of your work *and* seeing it on display like that.

Truly amazing. I knew you did mosaics, but I had no idea how fabulously talented you were at them.

Unbelievable.

Congratulations! It's wonderful!

How could Terry Irwin not love it?

Fantastic! Congratulations!

Wonderful! We have a *star* in our midst.

Oh reno, I'm *so* not fabulously talented -- I am just passionate and ornery :) I really really wanted to get this right for Terri, because Malina meant enough to her that there was a significant amount of time given to her in a kids' bio of Terri that came out in the 90s. I only wish I had time to do more mosaic fun, though -- I see folks on my lists zooming ahead full speed and I've got to plug on through my remodel, bit by bit...the Malina piece took precedence for a while, since it was time-constrained, but now it's back with my nose to the tile saw :)

Thanks Maddie and amy :) The camel, if you could see it from far away, is just *amazing*, as are Nancy's other pieces (a skunk, if you can believe it - a masterpiece of cutting -- and some others that are all just fabulous). I'm also pleased that one of the top carnivores in the western hemisphere is represented in a positive way for once, rather than as the scary menace varmint, as they're usually charcterized.

The one thing that would have made it perfect would have been to have DD's Grey Wolf somewhere in one of the small pics, but you can't have everything. She did her very first mosaic for this wall, an American Grey Wolf, which is another misunderstood top carnivore on this continent. I think Steve would have approved :)

wowza that is gorgeous!!! Don't you dare downplay your talent! I SO want to learn to do mosaics (Have a box full of chipped china lol!)

Just beautiful - and congratulations! That's quite an honor, I should say!

It's fabulous! How exciting to have your artwork on permanent display - I'm so very happy for you.

That is breathtaking! All the artists are very talented and I especially love your cougar as we have them here altho never have seen one, only seen their prints in the snow and heard their chilling cries. Of course mosaic is an especially fav art form of mine. Hope to someday try it.

Many congrats on this accomplishment!

wow--that's so cool!
Congratulations -- you must be so thrilled!

Wow flyleft, that is beautiful. Great talent, you are!!

Oh, that is beautiful!

Ever thought about doing illustrations for kids books? As a parent and teacher, I immediately see that image on the page.

I love the cougar! Congratulations!

Wow wow wow!! It's beautiful. Congratulations!

Absolutely stunning! I just can't get over Malina's soulful eyes! How were you able to get that expression on her face?

I hope you (and I) get to see it in person some day.

Flyleft, that's genius. How very lovely and how gifted.

Really beautiful! You are very talented and should feel very proud to be part of such a wonderful and thoughtful contribution! : )

I'm overwhelmed :) Thanks, you all.

Funny you mention the eyes, uxorial; in the pic with Terri that's in the bio (there's a pic of the two of them cheek to cheek -- just heartwrenching that Terri wasn't allowed to bring her over to Australia) Malina's eyes look so *incredibly* downcast and sad, almost like she knew Terri would abandon her...ay ay ay... -- I thought "I can't possibly make that the permanent representation of this dear longsuffering being"...so I found some eyes from another cougar photo that looked basically similar to hers, but were looking out directly at the camera (Sandy, the main coordinator, said that the eyes seem like they're following you :)) so as to give her a little more hope. I did the eyes first. There they were, staring out from the mesh, patiently waiting for me to finish the rest of her. Sometimes it was a little creepy. I love her eyes too :)

The rest of the face, though -- line, coloration -- were all Malina, and I've learned how very different all cougars are, even though they look the same in general. I wanted to get any markings that Terri might remember up there accurately. Some of the tesserae were moved, unfortunately, to put the grasses around the face and to make it somewhat 3-D (some mosaicist came in and did that with some of the animals...), so I hope enough of the markings come through that Terri will recognize her.

budge, thank you for your kind words :) There is a *fabulous* mosaicist who has done exactly what you talk about: her name's Barb Keith, and I bought a copy of her Mosaic Zoo book for my 4 y.o. nephew for the holidays -- he's preternaturally into mosaics and stained glass, from a trip to Barcelona with his parents -- and he is proclaiming "it's my favorite book ever!" Auntie Score :)

It's *so* beautiful...my only wish is that you could open the pages further and really flatten it out, but she published it as a paperback not a hardcover to keep prices down. Even at that it's *definitely* worth having. I'll link to it below and I can promise you that if you order it, you'll have your breath taken away by the work as much as I (and my nephew) did :) Here's a link to her gallery page, and below I'll put the Amazon listing for her book. I am not affiliated with her other than as a happy customer and a fan :)

Here is a link that might be useful: a hospital, I think, bought all the Mosaic Zoo mosaics, but here are others

I've linked actually to the Brownian Bee Press page for her book, so you could also see the *outstanding* Mother Goose series she did. Both are valuable art books in their own right, as well as being unbelievable kids' books.

Here is a link that might be useful: And she'll autograph them too :)

What unbelievable talent you have!!! I've never "met" anyone who composed mosaics. Do you have a specific "handle" for your work? Do you work alone or with some type of organization? Congrats on the publicity!

deedee, I just realized that I never replied to your post! I read it and thought "how sweet :)" but never actually typed out a reply, basically because there isn't one...I am just a hobbyist, not a pro at all--I found it by doing our kitchen backsplash in small glass tiles one by one :). That mosaic was motivated completely out of respect for Steve and Terri and love of cougars. The pressure was sure on because it was a portrait of a particular cougar, not a generic "animal picture", iykwim, so I worked and reworked and painted the backs of the tiles to get probably unnoticeable color gradations etc. I really appreciate your reply, though.

There are many amazing mosaic artists in this country, btw--and growing all the time. Here's a link to a members' gallery of the Society of American Mosaic Artists -- I could get lost in there for way too long :)

Here is a link that might be useful: sit back and feast your eyes :)

Absolutely gorgeous work. Loved the slivers for the hair in the ears, nice touch.

Absolutely stunning and meticulously done, we are all very proud of you. Such Talent!!

flyleft, It is stunning, congratulations.

Flyleft, I'm stunned! It's absolutely beautiful and I'm sure Terry will gaze into your Malina's eyes with love and sweet memories every time she passes the wall.

One of the things near the top of my "someday I'm gonna try that" list is mosaic work. It looks like such fun!

The Keith books look wonderful. If I were doing a children's room, I'd be tempted to buy two of the zoo ones, tear them apart and frame them.

Thanks so much for sharing your talent with us!! I'm all inspired!

Arlene

Congratulations flyleft. So beautiful. I absolutely love mosaics, especially well done ones like your beautiful Malina.
Beautiful, good job.

Kimberly

flyleft, that is gorgeous! I'm a catlover, and your Malina portrait has such a great cat expression. I hope you do get to see the mural wall some day.

Did you have an art background before you started mosaics?

Wow, thanks, you all! I posted again just to give the SAMA link to deedee :) liz, I had *no* visual art background in terms of actually making it -- I'm a longtime student of history of art and appreciator of art, but my talents lie more in music and words than visual art. I can't draw to save my life (my DD disagrees but she's my DD :)). I'm really happy that you say she has a cat expression (and that you noticed the ear hairs, littledog :) -- I always love those when I see them in domestic cats)-- it was a composite portrait, as I indicated, and I worked and reworked it so much. I won't feel that it's really delivered until I know whether Terri noticed her, etc...it's fine if she didn't, I just want to know one way or the other, iykwim.

And I'm serious about the links; there are so many wonderful mosaic artists in this country, and they're extremely generous about sharing their knowledge and encouraging each other on, even wrt beginners. Very different from the professional worlds of music and theatre I was in, in that regard. I'm just glad that gardenweb led me, however indirectly, to find something I really love and with any luck can keep doing for a while to come (a trigger thumb operation would help, but I've got to save up for that)...

Thanks for the link, flyleft. I never knew such an avenue of artistic expression existed.

Your work is just stunning Fly. You have made that cougar come alive with cold stone! That is quite a feat.